I am only positive in my identification of two of these ladies. My grandmother and her sister were able to positively identify the lady seated to the left, as you are looking at it, as their mother, Mary Jane "Zillie" Beachum (1867-1910, Mrs. Dulin Benson Stearns), and the lady standing to the left as her youngest sister, Lenora Colon Beachum (1875-1955) Mrs. Charles F. Ballard. They stated without hesitation that the oldest lady, seated to the right, was Aunt Angel, Angeline Melvina Beachum (1855-1920) Mrs. William Carpenter; however, I have my doubts.
There is a group picture of the surviving children of Jeremiah Washington Beachum made at the time of his death in 1910. (I only have a very, very poor copy of it, so won't bother to post it.) In that picture, Aunt Angel appears to be a very large woman, tall (as far as you can tell with her seated) and heavy set. The woman seated next to her, Sarah Isabelle Beachum (1859-1931) Mrs. Martin William Wright, looks a lot more like this lady to me.(However, I have recently discovered that Aunt Angel lived in Charlotte, where my great grandmother lived, in 1900. So I suppose it could be her....and she got tall and fat before 1910, lol.) They were uncertain about the lady standing to the right. They couldn't decide if it was Aunt Isabelle or Aunt Louisa, and finally decided it was probably Louisa (pronounced Lou-EYE-za). She was Louisa Clementine Beachum (1864-1939) Mrs. Miles Caudle. However, I have seen a couple of other pictures of her since then, and I don't think this is her at all. Based upon the apparent ages, I am guessing that this is Heallon (Helen?) Mercia Beachum (1874-1930) Mrs. James Martin King.
I base my provisional dating of the picture, c. 1898-1900, on Mary Jane's sleeves. In the only other picture of her known to exist (and I don't have a copy!!!), she has on the same dress, but the sleeves are different. They are enormous in it... like twice the size they are in this picture, and sticking up, like they were stuffed with something. That picture can be dated as c. 1896, because in it, she is surrounded by her husband and the first five of her ten children. The baby on her lap is my great uncle, Clyde Casey Stearns, who was born 3 September 1895. I read in a theatrical costume book that the enormous "bat wing" or "leg o' mutton" sleeves were very fashionable in 1895/6, but had gone out of style by 1898. Poor thing probably could only afford one "best dress," but tried to be stylish, anyway, by "deflating" her sleeves.
.
Also see related photographs:
.
Submitted by:
John Field Pankow
